Let me start with wishing Texas State Parks system a happy 100 years! After Governor Pat Neff’s mother donated family land to the state of Texas to be memorialized as a public park, he was inspired in 1923 to begin the search for and acquisition of more Texas land to be transformed. By 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt took notice and enlisted the CCC workers of the “New Deal” to lend a hand. In 1937, Mother Neff State Park officially opened as Texas’ first state park. We visited this park before I started blogging and we thoroughly enjoyed it, so I might add a post for nostalgia this year. 🙂

2023 started a little slower than I would have liked for park visits, but at least half way through, it looks like we’re picking up some momentum! The kids and I snagged 3 days to hit Lake Somerville State park before I started on the much needed ceiling renovation for Wanda. We also had an awning upgrade to test out. And with the record breaking heat we’re experiencing this summer… it was needed for camping the last week of June!

Lake Somerville State Park is split across the lake in 2 separate units with a 13 mile trail connecting them. I chose Nails Creek Unit for being smaller and its reputation of being more quiet according to Facebook group reviews. I was pleasantly surprised at the park’s availability on campsites (thank you, heatwave) and reserved what looked like a mostly shaded lakefront spot.

We spent most of day 1 just getting there and setting up. Sometimes a 3.5 hour drive just turns into 5 haha. The awning went up without a problem and we were immediately so grateful for it! It came together from leftover parts of the carport kit I used to build our chicken run and attached it to the awesome kayak rack my dad installed a couple years ago giving it a nice height. I just love when repurposed items serve their purpose well! Big props to my Eagle Scout Hubby for creating our easy to use and adjust guy-wires too!

The boys took off for the lake while I got dinner stuff ready and sight casted at carp (aka “giant goldfish) for about an hour. After we ate, we drove to the fishing pond and the boys chunked some more lures. We also saw snake #1 there. We finally found it comfortable to sit at the picnic table by 8:30 that evening and played Uno until dark while watching deer get a drink from the lake.

The kids slept until 8:30 the next morning while I tried to convince some presumptuous sparrows they didn’t want to build nests in our stuff. We would spend the rest of the time there continuously blocking them from tubs, bags, buckets, and chairs! They were fast little builders and would get a nest started in what seemed like only minutes! We just kept moving the clumps to tree branches and then would block off the access they had found. We also tried out a new breakfast hack that morning and loved it! We figured out one whole box of Kodiak pancake mix combined with one 16oz bottle of water makes just the right amount of pancakes at the perfect thickness to satisfy everyone’s hunger for the morning. I appreciate the protein and better ingredients in this mix versus the regular “shake n pour” variety we had used a couple times before.

We tried out another fishing spot, where the boys found snake #2 that appeared to have been pulled up in someone’s cast net causing them to abandon it. While we usually pick up other people’s trash in an effort to “leave it better than we found it,” I didn’t want any part of whatever snake was in there and the we decided best for the Park Rangers to handle it. The boys moved on to trying some fishing while Ashlyn found a shady spot to sit and sketch. It didn’t take long for the heat of the day to hit us and we moved on to hiking a 1 mile roundtrip trail to check out an observation deck overlooking the lake. It was a little anticlimactic, but we enjoyed the shaded stroll through the trees.

Back at the camper, we packed a lunch and headed out of the park to the other side of the lake to check out the Birch Creek Unit. This area had a much larger boat ramp and day use area. There was a marked area for swimming as well and some people were partaking, but the water didn’t look appealing enough to us. After eating lunch at a shaded picnic table, the boys and I briefly ventured out on the fishing pier that had previously sustained damage but wasn’t repaired yet. That’s where we spotted snake #3!

On the way back to our campsite, we stopped at Kovasovic’s Country Store/ Meat Market and scored some pan sausage and summer sausage to take home and some huge bacon wrapped jalapeno’s that I grilled that night for my dinner. The kids each picked out a pint of Blue Bell and demolished them. We hung out in the camper from 2pm-4pm that day playing cards and cat napping then spent the rest of the evening lounging in hammocks.

Because we were late to get on the water the morning before, Archer and I committed to setting an alarm and got up with the sun to give the fishing one more try before we left. We were literally 5 minutes too late to the spot I wanted and a boat was already there pulling fish up out of what I imagined was quite the “honey hole.” Archer wasn’t too thrilled watching them while having no results ourselves, but we tried our best for an hour before going back to camp, eating breakfast and breaking everything down to head home.

We had a great time outdoors despite the heat wave, but there really isn’t much draw personally for us to return to this park. It is the first park we’ve been to with a large amount of equestrian amenities. Most of the trails are marked for equestrian use, including the 13 mile trail that connects the units and features primitive campsites along the way that are equipped with horse corrals. Large group campsites and individual size campsites with horse corrals are located in both units as well.

This park also broke our record on number of snake sightings while camping! We definitely kept our eyes on the ground/water and on a swivel the whole time and we were happy they were always at a distance.

-Lindsay

On March 7th, we had our first warm and free day of the year and jumped on a day trip to Lake Corpus Christi State Park. We had been saving this park for exactly this occasion and loaded the car up with our fresh water fishing gear ready to see a new park finally. After just a little over an hour drive, we arrived just in time for our picnic lunch.

We found a nice shady area with picnic tables on the bank of the lake near the boat ramp and day use area. After we ate, the onslaught of casting and reeling and changing lures every 5 seconds began, haha. But I can’t give them too much grief, my bobber and bait sat untouched the whole time as well. It didn’t look like the folks on the pier were having much luck either, so we chalked it up to a day for just fishing and not catching.

We loaded back up in the car and set off to explore the other features of the park. There are 2 simple trails in the entire park, but quite a few camping loops and around 20 nice look cabins. Some of the water front campsites looked lovely and were large enough for campers, but only provided water hook ups.

After our tour of campsites, we drove up a bluff to check out the CCC built pavilion. The structure is stunning! We’ve seen a number of these buildings by now, but each one has its own character that makes us respect the thought that went into each design. This one closely reminded us of the pavilion at Lake Brownwood State Park with its upstairs lookout and promenade leading to the lake.

Our final stop was a cute natural designed playground and to my surprise, the kids enjoyed some pretend play for quite while.

We enjoyed out daytrip to this park. I’m glad its easy to get to on a whim. A simple weekend camping trip would be fun too. The water isn’t our kind of “swim-able” but I would like to try fishing some more.

-Lindsay

Another training opportunity had come for Nathan in December of last year and this time they were sending him to San Diego for a week. Obviously, all of us tagged along this go around to take in the sights of such an interesting city. We would have most of Saturday and all day Sunday with Nathan, then the kids and I would find fun during the day Monday before meeting Daddy for dinner and then we would head back home Tuesday while he finished out his class the rest of the week.

We started out with a 6:30am flight Saturday morning on December 3rd. The older 2 haven’t flown since they were under 4years old and this was Archer’s first. He took to sleeping on a plane effortlessly and everyone found take off/landing exciting. Thanks to an uneventful flight and 2 hour time change we were collecting our rental car before 11am.

We headed to Coronado Island first for lunch and brews at Coronado Brewing Company. Nathan had collected a list of breweries to hit prior to the trip and picked this one for me because of its fun mermaid logo. Our brewpub style lunch was awesome and the beers were yummy as well. Re-energized, we found the nearest beach so all of us could put our hand in the Pacific Ocean. The kids found some shells and collected sand for our ornament collection. While I tried to selfie all of us, a group of military men ran by (very Top Gun style at that) and one stopped and offered to take our picture!

It was time to check into the hotel, so we left the island and hit a grocery store in the city for some snacks and breakfast food since the hotel that was hosting Nathan’s training didn’t offer one. After we checked in, we headed out one more time to visit Bay City Brewing. After some rounds of Uno and a flight of beer, we decided a sunset on the West Coast would be the perfect end to day 1. A quick google search for a beach led us to “Dog Beach” where I had a Field of Dreams Moment and had to ask out loud if I was in Heaven. I don’t know if I had ever seen a more joyful collection of dogs literally living their best lives. There had to be 50 or more running off leash on the sand, through the water, chasing, and zooming everywhere while their humans stood in clusters and chatted. While there were a handful of hardcore surfers in the water, the beach was covered with others doing what we had come to do; just watch the sunset.

Our full day after a 3am wake up left us whooped but satisfied. We went back to our hotel and I walked next door to Jack in the Box for our dinner in the room.

Sunday started off early and busy as well. Today was the day the kids had been asking for years. Today we were going to LegoLand California. Not just the some Lego Discovery Center… THE Legoland. This has been on the kids list like Disney is for other kids. On our way to the park we stopped at La Jolla Beach and saw the seals and sea lions…along with all the PEOPLE swimming and diving with them! Never mind that the water is frigid…. I don’t think I could trust those wild animals. Some were getting incredibly close to the recreationists. But we definitely got the “been there, done that” experience.

We arrived just as the park opened at 10am and stayed until they closed at 6pm. We rode everything that was open and walked the entire place twice since we went back to ride the favorites one last time. The kids walked out asking when we would be coming back lol! It exceeded their expectations and while I was mildly disappointed with the lack of thrill rides (the fastest roller coaster in the park was closed down) the incredible amount of genuine Lego built creations themed throughout the park was impressive. Our 3 favorite rides were Emmett’s Flying Adventure, Deep Sea Adventure and The Dragon Coaster. Emmett’s was a well done 4D experience with a giant IMAX screen and riders were stacked 4 stories tall in their seats with their legs dangling. Deep Sea was a submarine ride with a scavenger hunt along the way. The Lego creations under the water along with the live sealife made for a beautiful ride. The Dragon was the only roller coaster type ride open and while it was too much for Archer, the older 2 rode it numerous times. While I can say with certainty that Legoland is a one and done experience for us, I am so glad the kids got to mark this off their bucket list.

Completely exhausted from the very stimulating day, we managed to hit another brewery, Rouleux Brewing, on the way back and enjoyed a tasty meal in a quiet restaurant before an early bedtime.

For our solo day on Monday, the kids and I hit the San Diego Zoo. Now I was the one pumped! The kids were excited as well, but Mom was ready to geek out at one of the best zoo’s in the world! It took us 8 hours to see the whole thing and we were blown away! Every section of the zoo felt and looked like you were walking the actual ecosystem with elaborate landscaping and then you would just happen upon an animal. Everything was exceptionally clean and every level of staff member were incredibly friendly.

Our final stop was the newest addition of a children’s area and I was smitten with the nature theme of the massive area. We couldn’t help but carefully play in the “Tree of Life” splashpad. But no worries if we had gotten wet…there was an area with full body blow dryers beside the bathrooms!

I would be at this zoo on a weekly basis if I lived in San Diego! Just to hike it! I visited the Sydney Zoo in Australia as a kid and thought I had seen the best of the best then. San Diego matches it if not beats what I remember about Sydney.

We met Nathan back at the hotel just as he was getting out of class and we finished our whirlwind California trip with dinner and drinks at Ketch Brewing Co. The kids and I uber-ed Tuesday morning to the airport and had a fantastic travel day even though it was long with a couple hours layover in Houston before our final stop in Corpus. Traversing airports, flying and plane changing solo with the kids and how well it went got me excitedly thinking about new travel abilities! Only if it wasn’t so dang expensive!

I’ll admit I carry a typical Texan attitude about California. But, I LOVED San Diego. Weston went on and on about wanting to live there one day and we basically told him to join the military then lol! I’ve been told since the trip that San Diego is it’s special place within the stereotypical Californian setting, so while I’m not running off to visit L.A. or San Fran anytime soon, I could definitely go back to SD.

-Lindsay

We had one stop left on our West Texas adventure and even though we shortened the trip by a day, we were able to easily change our day use reservation for a much anticipated swim in one of the most unique pools in Texas.

We decided on lunch in Balmorhea beforehand at what looked like 1 of 3 options, but La Cuevo de Oso was some really good TexMex! Beyond that, the town was really interesting. The San Solomon Springs that originates in the pool at the state park has been channeled alongside the road feeding into the surrounding farmlands and continues through the town. The bubbling water and numerous bridges over the canal were so quaint!

The week long rains had made it a little chillier than expected, but we were optimistic to enjoy the consistent spring fed 72* water until we started seeing the storm clouds moving in as we approached the park. Ashlyn, Weston and myself bee lined for the bathroom to change into swimsuits as soon as we parked with thunder already in the distance. Archer and Dad decided 72* was still too cold without sunshine. Our inaugural plunge was aptly off the high dive and we were able to get a couple rounds in before lightening was seen.

A lifeguard confirmed we all needed to clear out and I took the unique opportunity to gets some pictures of the dam system and of the entire historical CCC built pool without people in it! I cannot wait to come back on our way to Big Bend one day! We definitely needed more time and the campground that was undergoing renovations should be ready for us by then!

We waited in the pavilion for the worst of the storm to pass only to catch up with it once on the road getting hailed on before getting to our final hotel night in Fort Stockton. The last leg of the trip home the next day was uneventful and we arrived home grateful for the experiences but ready for rest.

The weather really wreaked havoc on the 2nd half of the trip, but we still experienced so much and I will remain forever thankful to have had this time with my kids and Dad.

-Lindsay